
Nine pilots flew at Nanakuli yesterday. Man was it nice. Doug jumped over the back (of course). Me and Bob and Doctor John (FL) went to the back and got up back there to cruise at cloudbase. Others tried to get back and hit massive sink so it felt like an accomplishment just to get back there. Bob and I were tempted to follow Doug but the cloudbase just felt a tad low for our comfort levels. Next time! Here is a picture of Greg doing his thing over Haleakala.
2 comments:
I wasn't really trying to go to the back-back, just exploring lift in new (to me) places. The lift wasn't working as well in front as it had been, and we'd been having some luck behind it. I tried again, was getting lite beeps, then 0's, then nothing. As I searched around for more, no luck, and my ridge-soaring brain was too afraid to head back over the ridge from the back not knowing if there might be some kind of rotor (air peeling off of thermals on the face? from laminar flow? etc.). So I opted to search for thermals in the back of the valley, lee side of the hill, hoping to just get above the lower part of the ridge. But alas, it was not to be. Live, fly, learn, soar.
I think the thermals lean over the hill and you can fall out the back of them and it can be impossible to get back because of that. There will be sink if not rotor on the backside of the lean direction. I think you definitely did the right thing to try and come back around the side. I've tried that before and sometimes you can't even make it to the school. But the ranch is big and there are lots of spots to land in the valley.
Post a Comment